Cert -12

Run-time - 2 hours 14 minutes

Director - Kenji Kamiyama

When the throne of Rohan is challenged by the vengeful leader (Luke Pasqualino) of a rival people the king's (Brian Cox) daughter (Gaia Wise) leads the defence while their people hide in a surrounded mountain fortress.

It's been widely reported that The War Of The Rohirrim was rushed into production so that New Line Cinema could keep the film adaptation rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's works. Yet, this anime prequel set in the same world as Peter Jackson's live-action trilogy, featuring shared names in the credits after the archives from those films were opened up to the filmmakers, feels anything but a cash-grab.

Based on appendices from Tolkien's, The War Of The Rohirrim follows Héra (Gaia Wise), the daughter of the king of Rohan; the brilliantly named Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox). After killing a rival leader (Shaun Dooley) who seeks to usurp the throne, his son, Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), a childhood friend of Héra seeks revenge. Not holding back on near-instant attacks, whether fights involve fists, swords or entire armies, each sequence has an undeniably cinematic framing.

With animation which calls back to fantasies of the 70s and 80s, Ralph Bakshi, who had his own Lord Of The Rings adaptation, comes to mind, the visual style feels made for the big screen. The detail of which increases the dramatic fantasy at hand and in turn the building suspense throughout a run-time which is largely constructed with action and escalating confrontations, with Wulf launching fiery attacks and attempting a siege against the people of Rohan, secured in a mountain fortress. It's something of a traditional fantasy clash narrative but here, particularly thanks to Kenji Kamiyama's direction, it takes off and produces a good deal of tension.

Things might slow down around the final stages but there's still an enjoyable nature to much of the action. Helped by the fact that little of the film appears to be building towards Jackson's trilogy, which takes place almost 200 years after the events of this film. While one or two references appear, some much more clanging than others, for the most part this is an effective appendix adaptation which makes the most of the action that's possible in both the world of Middle Earth and between the rival armies.

Effectively lead by Héra at the centre, Wise's voice performance builds as the film goes on making for a more determined and headstrong character. As a whole the voice cast appears to improve as things develop, moving on from the feeling that most are simply audio acting rather than acting for animation or film; apart from Brian Cox who delivers an entertaining, increasingly bellowing performance.

The elements quickly come together and make for a frequently fantastic return to this iteration of Middle Earth, if in a different form. One which brings a lot to the overall tone of the fantasy and tension within the action at hand. It's superb.

Four stars